Oil majors sell Nigerian stakes worth $6.5bn in 2013

International oil companies (IOCs) are divesting their stake in Nigerian oil fields. Shell, Total and Chevron are among the companies which have sold their stake in shallow water assets in Nigeria.

The three major companies have sold stakes worth $6.5 billion in 2013. Oando Energy Resources will soon take over ConocoPhillips energy business in the country in 2014. The deal has been estimated at $1.7 billion.

International oil companies are keen on selling their stake in 13 oil blocks in Nigeria. Oil majors have spent nearly $100 billion globally to improve oil and gas output. However, the production has not improved as per expectations.

In January 2014, Shell issued profit warning for upcoming quarters. Shell registered massive decline in profit at $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to $5.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012.

In June 2013, Shell had announced its plan to sell four shallow water or onshore oil blocks in Nigeria.

Nigeria had awarded 24 oil fields to 31 companies in 2003. Till date, only eight companies have managed to start production from the allocated oil fields.

The companies have blamed corporate governance issues for lower investor interest in their projects. Nigerian oil ministry is urging the companies to start production as the economy depends on oil exports to a large extent.

Namibia to sign Kudu gas deal with Zambian Firm

Namibia’s power utility NamPower and and the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC), a private power utility in Zambia are scheduled to sign the Joint Development Agreement (JDA) and the Power Export Agreement Term on the Kudu Power Project in Windhoek today, NamPower announced this week.

NamPower currently holds 100% equity in KuduPower (Pty) Ltd, and it intends farming out 49% to strategic equity investors, of which CEC Africa will take up to 30%.

KuduPower (Pty) Ltd, is a special purpose vehicle that was established in 2005 by NamPower to design, build, own and operate the Kudu Power Station at Uubvlei, 25 KM north of Oranjemund.

NamPower announced this week that CEC will also off take between 200MW to 300MW of power from the Kudu Power Station through a Power Export Agreement with NamPower.

“The JDA and Power Export Agreement negotiations started in 2012 and were successfully concluded in October 2013, with the approval of both agreements by the respective board of directors of NamPower and CEC Africa,” NamPower said in a statement.

Kerosene subsidy: NNPC denies flouting presidential order

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has absolved itself of blame for flouting any presidential directive to discontinue the subsidy on kerosene as alleged by the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

THISDAY had exclusively obtained and reported the presidential directive given by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2009, ordering that the subsidy on kerosene should be removed.

But in the same letter signed by his then Principal Secretary, Mr. David Edevbie, he had also ordered that the announcement on the removal of the subsidy should not be made public.

Group Executive Director of Production and Exploration of NNPC, Mr. Abiye Membere, told journalists at the weekend in Abuja that the presidential directive stopping the subsidy on kerosene, which the CBN governor had accused it of disregarding, was actually stayed for execution as a result of its possible repercussions on the masses.

Non-remittance of oil revenue: CNPP urges probe into NNPC accounts

The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has again asked  President Goodluck Jonathan to, as a matter of urgent national importance, order an independent inquiry into accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from 1999  to 2013.

The group had previously called for an investigation into the discrepancy between the oil revenue accounts of NNPC and that of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, the group said  it was  making the appeal not only to stop the revenue leakages in the corporation, but to save Nigeria.

“It is our considered view that the 2015 general election will be free, fair and more transparent, if President Jonathan can muster the political will to clean the Augean stable in the NNPC, since the inception of our democracy or even his regime,”  it added.